Melbury <1>
Jan 7
My dear Henry
I hear there is a chance of Lord Granville’s <2> not going to the Hague at any rate till February, & it is even said that he will not go there at all, but replace Sir C. Stuart <3> at Paris, which would be a change greatly for the better as far as concerns me. So that I hope certainly to see you in Dorsetshire before I go – & we should be all very glad to know when you will be able to come – for as I heard from Bowood <4> the other day, they leave it for London the 1st feb. so you must pay your visit there soon.
Your Iris & Ornithogalum exscapum are coming up very nicely – & most of my dead looking things coming out again for the spring We have a magnolia grandiflora just in blow on an east wall which is unseasonable. Pray bring some seed of Lithospermum orientale with you, I forgot to gather it. All the Italian seeds have withstood the cold as yet.
Had you time to look over my dried plants with Jane? <5> I think you must have remarked those which you named at Naples Teucrium chamædrys which have a much larger flower than the common T. c. of the gardens. We have aster reflexus of the cape growing out here perfectly well. Have you paid your visit to Mr Dillwyn. <6> Pray let me know when you are likely to come for I want Buckland <7> to meet you, as he is to pay me a visit this winter going to Devonshire or returning
In case I should not see you I want to know whether you have fixed any time for going abroad – because as John <8> is going to Italy & Saverio <9> is to attend him he wishes to know if it would be possible for him to travel with you to Genoa where he expects to meet a friend the unfortunate Mr Baillie who was whas sent away from Ch Ch <10> the other day who will go on with him to Naples & the South of Italy & has a design upon Greece. Let me know what you think of this plan –
Yr affte
W T H F S
Notes:
1. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.
2. Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Granville (1773–1846), British ambassador to Paris from 1824 to 1841.
3. Sir Charles Stuart, later Baron Stuart de Rothesay (1779–1845), diplomat, British ambassador to Paris from 1815 to 1824).
4. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.
5. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874).
6. Lewis Weston Dillwyn (1778–1855), Welsh botanist & MP.
7. William Buckland (1784–1856), Dean of Westminster & scientist.
8. John George Charles Fox Strangways (1803–1859), MP.
9. Saverio Levota, a manservant or courier employed from time to time during the 1820s by members of the Strangways and Talbot families while on the Continent.
10. Christ Church, the Oxford college.
11. Susannah Sarah Louisa O’Brien, née Strangways (1743–1827), WHFT’s great aunt.
12. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800–1880), WHFT’s cousin.
13. Mary Thereza Talbot (1795–1861), WHFT’s cousin. This is probably a reference to a late wisdom tooth.